Airport connection/ changing air carriers

When you check-in for your Air Canada flight ask the agent if they can "tag" your bags all the way to Paris. If they can't you will indeed have to go through immigration, collect your bags, and head to the BA check-in counters, and then do the security check again. If your bags can be tagged, just go to the terminal where your BA flight is departing (terminal 5?), head to the BA transfer desk for your boarding pass, and then straight to the gate-you will have to go through another security screen somewhere along the way.

You can try calling Air Canada now to see if they interline bags with BA. If not, you have to give yourself enough time to go through immigration and customs which can be lengthy if you arrive at rush hour and don't have access to the 'fast track' lanes.

You should be able to interline your bags AND link your itineraries as both of these are major carriers. Call Air Canada and ask if they can do it. Even though its not the same alliance it can be done. For example, I recently interlined bags when I flew Untied to Chicago and then American to Quad Cities.

Normally if I were in your shoes I'd want my bags through-checked all the way to Paris.

But I'm afraid that BA at Heathrow is a major catastrophy. Questions have been asked in Parliament about the national scandle that is the farce of BA and Heathrow.

I have every confidence that Air Canada will get your bags to LHR. It is at this point I would want to reclaim my baggage. I would want to physically wait for it to appear on the luggage carousel, rip off the old bag tag and physically take it to the BA check-in and make them issue a fresh bag tag for the LHR-CDG sector.

Any other airline or any other airport and I wouldn't even think of doing this. But baggage handling by BA at LHR is a national disgrace, not my words but the words of our government.

I have a similiar problem for both legs of my trip to Greece.

To: Flying from JFK to Athens on Olympic Airlines and switching to a flight to Rhodes by Aegean Airlines. Does anyone think they would interline or should I just get my bags and recheck.

Return: Flying from Thessaloniki to Athens on Aegean Airlines and switching planes to Swiss Air JFK bound with a stop in Zurich.

Both have well over 7 hours flex way. What would you do?

-Note to orginal poster: LHR is crazy and busy, when are you planning on flying?

According to Aegean's website you should be able to check your bags all the way through to your final destination on Swiss but not Olympic: http://tinyurl.com/5hpmjg